The origin of new year's day
One of the origins of New Year's Day: the theory from ancient Egypt.
"New Year's Day" first came from the west. Around 50,000 BC, the ancient Egyptians had changed from nomadism to farming and settled on both sides of the Nile. Their agricultural harvest was closely related to whether there was a flood in the Nile. Through long-term observation, the ancient Egyptians found that the time of Nile flooding was regular, so they recorded this time on bamboo poles every time, and learned that the time between two floods was about 365 days, that is, one year. At the same time, the ancient Egyptians also found that when the high tide of the Nile came near Cairo today, the sun and Sirius just rose from the horizon at the same time.
Therefore, the ancient Egyptians set this day as the beginning of the year. This is the earliest origin of New Year's Day. New Year's Day is the beginning of celebrating New Year's Day. Celebrating New Year's Day is a common custom in all countries and regions in the world.
At present, most countries in the world take 1 Gregorian calendar as New Year's Day. Due to the different longitude position and time in different countries, the date of "New Year's Day" is different. For example, Tonga, an island country in Oceania, lies to the west of international date line. It is the first place in the world to start a day and the first country to celebrate New Year's Day. Western Samoa, located in the east of international date line, is the latest place in the world to start a new day.
The second origin of New Year's Day: Zhuan Xu celebrates New Year's Day.
China's New Year's Day is said to have started in Zhuan Xu, one of the three emperors and five emperors, with a history of more than 3,000 years. The word "New Year's Day" first appeared in the Book of Jin: "It was actually the spring of New Year's Day when the emperor was transferred to Xia Meng in the first month." During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Xiao Ziyun's poem "Jieya" in the Southern Dynasties also recorded "New Year's Day in four seasons, longevity in early spring".
China's word "New Year's Day" comes from Zhuan Xu. Zhuan Xu is the leader of the ancient tribal alliance in China and one of the "Five Emperors". He defined the first month of the lunar calendar as "Yuan" and the first day of the first month as "Dan". The calendar in the early Han Dynasty basically followed the Zhuan Xu calendar since the Qin Dynasty. Zhuan Xu Calendar was completed in the 19th year of Qin Xiangong (the first 366 years).
Meng Xiyue (1 month) is the first month of the Xia calendar, the twelfth month of the Shang lunar calendar (1February) and the winter month of the weekly calendar (1 1 month). After Qin Shihuang unified China, Yangchun month (October) was the first month, that is, the first day of October was New Year's Day. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has been stipulated that Meng Xiyue (January) is the first month, and the first day of Meng Xiyue (the first day of the first month in the summer calendar) is called New Year's Day, which has been used until the late Qing Dynasty. But this is the summer calendar, that is, the lunar calendar or lunar calendar, and it is not what we call New Year's Day today. In 65438, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. In order to "follow the agricultural season, so follow the western calendar, so make statistics", in the first year of the Republic of China, it was decided to use the Gregorian calendar (19 12 was actually used at that time), and it was stipulated that the Gregorian calendar 1 was called "New Year's Day", but it was not called "New Year's Day" at that time.
The third origin of New Year's Day: the succession of Yao and Shun.
According to legend, during the prosperous period of ancient Yao and Shun more than 4,000 years ago, Emperor Yao worked diligently and loved the people when he was in power, and did a lot of good things for the people, which was deeply loved by the people. However, due to his son's incompetence, he did not pass the throne of "emperor" to his son, but to Shun, who has both ability and political integrity. Yao said to Shun, "You must succeed in the future, and you will be relieved when I die." Later, Shun passed the throne to Yu, who made great contributions to flood control. Yu also loves the people and has done many good things for the people like Shun, so he is very popular. Later, after Yao's death, people took the day of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and the first emperor Yao as the beginning of the year, and called the first day of the first month "New Year's Day" or "Shun Di", which was the ancient New Year's Day.
New Year's Day in ancient China is not the current Gregorian calendar-Gregorian calendar 65438+ 1. From the first day of the twelfth lunar month in the Yin Dynasty to the first day of the first month in the Han Dynasty, there have been many repeated changes. At the beginning of the Republic of China 19 12 1 when Sun Yat-sen took office as interim president in Nanjing, it was the time of "farming time" and "convenient statistics". The first day of the first lunar month is designated as the Spring Festival, and the first lunar month of the Gregorian calendar is changed to 1 as "New Year's Day", but it is still called "New Year's Day". It was not until after liberation that the Central People's Government promulgated and uniformly used the "National Festival and Memorial Day", designated the Gregorian calendar 1 as New Year's Day, and decided to have a national holiday on this day. At the same time, in order to distinguish the two New Years, and in view of the fact that the "beginning of spring" in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar is just around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first lunar month is called "Spring Festival". "
New Year custom
1. Tangyuan?
Tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty, filled with nuts and wrapped in glutinous rice. Tangyuan is not only a traditional food for the Lantern Festival, but also has a beautiful meaning when eaten on New Year's Day, symbolizing the harmony, beauty and reunion of life.
Step 2: eggs
In the local customs between Wu and Jin dynasties, the custom of eating one egg per person has appeared. "Local Customs" says that "swallowing chicken raw is called practicing shape". Fitness is a Taoist term, which refers to practicing the body and thinking that you can become an immortal. Eating eggs raw is for longevity. Taiping Yu Lan (Volume 29) quotes the Chronology of Jingchu's Age: "Liang has a world where he doesn't eat meat, and Jing has never eaten chicken since then, so he must follow the routine." In other words, Liang Wudi believes in Buddhism and no longer eats eggs that belong to small fresh meat.
3.pepper and cypress wine?
It has appeared in the Four People's Moon Order in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Pepper is Chinese prickly ash. The ancients said that pepper is the essence of Yuhengxing, which smells fragrant and makes people light and anti-aging. Cypress is a cypress leaf. The ancients regarded it as an elixir of life, which can avoid all diseases. Zanthoxylum bungeanum and cypress can be soaked in wine separately, or they can be put into wine together for drinking. Drinking pepper and cypress wine can cure diseases and live longer. Yu Xin of the Southern Dynasties wrote in Zheng Dan Monti Wine: "Zheng Dan will brew bad wine, and the New Year will bring you a longevity cup. The cypress leaves come with the inscription, and the pepper flowers come one by one. " It depicts the joy of getting pepper and cypress wine in the New Year. In the Tang Dynasty, Wu Ping's poem "Offering Bones to Yuan Guan" expressed his wish to serve the emperor for thousands of years with health and longevity. Drinking pepper and cypress wine has spread among the people so far, and it has been practiced in Licheng, Shandong Province and Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province in the Ming Dynasty.
No matter what kind of statement it originated from, or the combination of various statements, New Year's Day has given people the desire to welcome good luck and ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. People can feel the nourishment of culture and the true meaning of life in this colorful but not strong folk festival atmosphere.